


It's Not About the Party

by Brumeier



Series: Bite Sized Fic [27]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Birthday, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Kid Fic, M/M, Parenthood, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-16
Updated: 2016-02-16
Packaged: 2018-05-21 00:39:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6031837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/pseuds/Brumeier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>LJ Comment Fic for Birthdays prompt: <i>Any, Any/Any, It’s their baby's first birthday and one wants a lowkey affair the other wants a big bash.</i></p><p>In which John and Rodney have a hard time overcoming their own pasts in their desire to give AJ the best birthday.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Not About the Party

“What’s wrong with you?” Rodney was in his defensive pose, arms crossed and chin thrust outward. It didn’t bode well.

“All I’m saying is he’s too young. Having a big party won’t mean anything to him, and he’ll just get overstimulated.”

“Suddenly you’re an expert?” Rodney snapped.

John threw his hands in the air. “Why are we fighting about this? It’s stupid.”

“Of course you’d say that. Why would I even be surprised? You know, I really –”

AJ interrupted with a gusty cry, and Rodney spun on his heel. However else the man might be aggravating – and the list was long – John never failed to marvel at what a great father Rodney was. The blind panic of the first week had morphed into the same kind of confident competence that he displayed in his lab.

“You’re okay,” Rodney murmured. He pulled AJ out of the crib and hugged him, rubbing his back. “Daddy’s just being a lunkhead. You’ll get used to it.”

“Hey! Don’t say stuff like that in front of him!”

“Aren’t you the one who said he’s too young to remember?”

“I can’t talk to you when you get like this. I’ll be back later.” John didn’t like having his words thrown back at him, but leaving seemed preferable to fighting in front of the baby. And he didn’t want to say something he regretted.

*o*o*o*

It was almost two hours later when John returned to their quarters. He expected Rodney to be in bed, maybe pretending to sleep, but he was sitting on the couch with his legs drawn up and covered by an afghan.

“Hey,” John said. The lights were dimmed down, but he could see how far Rodney’s crooked mouth was turned down. “How’s AJ?”

“Sleeping.”

John wanted to go to bed, but he knew better than to do that when things were unresolved between them. Especially if Rodney wasn’t taking the easy way out by faking sleep. So he sat at the other end of the couch, elbows on his knees, and waited.

“Is our son’s birthday party worth fighting over?” Rodney eventually asked, his voice hushed.

“Why are you so determined to go all out on something he won’t remember?” John countered, keeping his voice down as well. 

Rodney kept his eyes on his hands, which were bunching up the afghan. “My parents didn’t acknowledge our birthdays. They’d celebrate themselves, for being such great parents. Jeannie and I had to throw our own little parties, just the two of us.”

John was struck once again by the differences in their upbringing. They both had lousy parents, but it tended to show in different ways.

“My dad would throw these fancy parties, and I’d have to invite kids I didn’t know; the kids of his business partners.” John had hated them, hated his father for making him participate. “I always wanted something lowkey, just a couple friends. But I never got a say. Bigger doesn’t mean better.”

“So what do we do? Just not have a party at all?”

John hated that defeated tone in Rodney’s voice. He reached over and took hold of Rodney’s hand.

“We’ll work it out. You’re the smartest man in the galaxy, McKay. It’s gonna take more than a birthday party to beat us.”

“I had shitty parents, John. I want AJ to have better.”

“He does.” John tugged on Rodney’s hand, pulling him close enough to wrap an arm around him. “The fact that you’re this worried about it shows what a good father you are.”

Rodney snuggled up next to him. “I don’t want to make the same mistakes my parents did. AJ is too important.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll make all new ones.”

“Oh, that’s comforting. Thank you so much for setting my mind at ease.” 

They sat up late that night, talking things out. And on AJs first birthday they had a party with their closest friends, with plenty of cake and punch, and shiny new presents that AJ abandoned in favor of playing with the packaging. He never remembered that birthday. But his fathers did. And they treasured the memory.


End file.
